Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Patrick posted a few weeks ago about the "birth" of the Army of Tennessee, and I thought it fitting that the date of its' death should be likewise noted. Today marks the 144th anniversary of the battle of Nashville. Although Joe Johnston would surrender a "Army of Tennessee", when you look at the order of battle, only one small corps was made up of what was left after Nashville and the disasterous retreat that followed.

True, French's Division was sent to Mobile to aide in the defence of that city. Although, showing some bias here, I still see French, Loring, etc., as Army of Mississippi. Still, what had been the core of the AoT was gone after Nashville, the list of casualties in the Tennessee Campaign bear witness to that.

I tend to agree that Loring, French, and to my chagrin sometimes,Carter Stevenson are in my eyes, Army of Mississippi units. I would consider the core unit make up of the Army of Tennessee to be those military units present at name change of the Army of the Mississippi to the Army of Tennessee.